My Comprehensive Balanced Literacy Program Within A 2nd Grade Classroom
Andy Young Lesley University Literacy: The Integration of the Language Arts Gwen Blumberg March 12, 2009
Question: What will a comprehensive balanced literacy program look like in your 2nd grade classroom? That is an excellent question and one that I have given considerable thought to during my studies and preparation for becoming a full-time 2nd grade teacher. The ability to read, write, and communicate effectively is fundamental for success in life and, accordingly, must be the primary focus of early childhood education. I believe, and many experts will agree, that there are four major pillars of an effective and comprehensive literacy program: • • • •
Reading aloud to children Shared reading and interactive writing with the entire class Guided reading and writer’s workshop within small groups or as individuals Independent reading and writing. In my classroom, each of these four components will include
exercises and activities that will focus on daily word study, will provide student choice, will be appropriately modeled, will be collaborative, will be well-organized, will become part of a daily routine, will be based on student need, will include numerous diverse forms of student assessment and reading resources, will ensure that communication is continually provided to each child’s parents/guardians, and will ensure that these evolving reading and writing skills will be consistently integrated across all subject-matter areas. Above all, I will create a safe environment built on trust that will challenge my students to strive for greatness, encourage an inquiry-based approach to learning, and promote risk taking. Now, I’m sure you are saying to yourself, “that sounds great, but how exactly are you going to create such an environment and what will it look like?” Let me explain in detail what my classroom in your school will look like. Before the school year has even begun, I intend to reach out to the students and parents of my students to provide my expectations for the upcoming year. Within my communication and 1
accompanying brochure, I will emphasize the importance that will be placed on literacy within my classroom and will provide specific examples of what will be taught at school. I will also include my expectations for the parents and the significant role they play in their child’s development process. I will use Regie Routman’s brochure from her book Conversations (Appendix A-2) as a template. In doing so, I hope to immediately empower the parents to take ownership and become actively involved in their child’s learning progress and feel connected to the work done at school. On day one, minute one of the school year I will begin modeling our daily literacy program along with my expectations for each student and the purpose of my instruction. By establishing a routine from that initial introduction, the children will quickly become comfortable with this schedule and know what is expected of them. Each child will be made aware of the classroom library that is available to them and the book sign-out process. This extensive library will contain picture books, trade books, chapter books, big books, magazines, poetry, anthologies, and fiction and non-fiction books. I will level each of our class’s supplemental books accordingly and place them in bins marked for each guided reading level. Within my library will also be anchor books and basals that will be used as the basis of whole-class instruction for the week’s theme. Upon determining each child’s reading level (which I will discuss further when I talk about my formal assessment techniques), students may select a book within their appropriate bin, be given an anchor book, or may ask for a recommendation of me or other students. Each morning all students will begin the first twenty minutes of each day in sustained silent reading (SSR). During this independent reading time, I may read silently to model proper reading techniques or move around the room listening to each student reading softly while assessing their reading abilities and strategies. I will be paying close attention to specific skills that should be addressed in 2
guided or shared reading exercises. Meanwhile, every day students will record what they have read in their reading journals. These reading journals will contain a full list of books read and the dates complete. I will review these journals and schedule teacher-led or studentled conferences once a new book has been completed. I, or another group member using the questions created during our shared writing exercises, will conduct these interviews with children that have completed books during the previous day’s independent reading time to, initially, check for comprehension and to answer any lingering questions. Later in the year, student interviews will be characterized more as “book talks” or conversations in which a student provides a review of the book and determines whether or not to recommend that others read it. Each day, following the independent reading time, our class will meet in our whole-class area of the room to review the morning message posted at the front of the class. We will then have a 10 minute conversation as a group about the day’s message; its words, its meaning, and its value to the class. Some of the activities I can perform with the morning message include covering parts of words, drawing pictures to represent words while asking the children to interpret the missing word, work on spelling, grammar or punctuation, celebrate special events, and asking my students to fill-in-the-blanks. These exercises will quickly allow me to assess my student’s reading abilities and comprehension skills such as using context cues to derive meaning and their ability to self-monitor. Following the morning message exercise, I will demonstrate my passion of reading with the students by reading aloud to them. In addition to teacher-led reading, guest readers will also be involved in this process as I will encourage school administrators, parents, and other school staff or older students to participate in oral reading. This will truly reinforce the notion that our school is an extended family and 3
tight community of learners. Students may also be asked to share their own reading with the class or to participate in shared reading with the expert reader. Books will often be the genre read each morning but, on occasion, I will photocopy poems that will be placed in each child’s poetry notebook and will either read them myself on the overhead or have one of the children read it for the class. One of Regie Routman’s ideas, Poet of the Day, will also be included in this shared reading time. Poets of the day are students that volunteer to read a poem for the class after having practiced reading it beforehand. Within the read aloud block, I will be prompting the students to make predictions, asking students to fill in the next word, summarizing what we have read, and rereading sentences for clarification. In addition to spending 10-15 minutes reading aloud, 15-20 minutes will be used conducting shared reading activities that reinforce specific reading strategies or key lessons for the day. Exercises that may be included during the shared reading time are: word hunts, Reader’s Theatre, separating onsets from rimes, rhyming, riddles, developing character traits, introducing or reciting word wall words, matching games, letter recognition and phonemic exercises, tracking activities, brainstorming, categorizing pictures and words, creating songs, hangman, among many others. All of these activities model the process of thinking aloud and interacting with written text. Upon completion of our class reading and writing, students will be grouped according to their current reading and spelling needs and each of the four groups will begin working on a series of reading and spelling exercises that are displayed on the pocket chart at the front of the room and in their individual pocket folder. On this chart will be a series of exercises or mini-lessons, represented by symbols that the students must work on during their 25-30 minutes at one of the four learning centers. After the first 25-30 minute block is over, children will rotate to the next learning center listed for that day or to their desks 4
for individual seat work. During seat work, students will focus on key topics covered in whole-class discussion through writing in their word study notebooks, practicing sorting words, performing word hunts, drawing and labeling pictures, cutting and pasting, and completing speed sorts or blind sorts in pairs. Assigned reading groups will continuously change throughout the year so that all students have worked with each other. My learning centers will include a listening center, a computer center, an area for independent or group reading, writing, or artwork, and a conference area where I can meet with students. At the listening center students will listen to books, music, or poetry. The computer center will have multiple computers where students will be able to play interactive educational games or perform research for projects. The reading, writing, and art center will have couches, chairs, tables, manipulatives, easels, and a plethora of art supplies accessible to students. Finally, the conference center will have a large table and chairs at which I can meet with the groups to concentrate on specific reading or spelling skills or to review any issues that the students may raise to me. During this conference time, I will concentrate on the specific needs of the group members through exercises that strengthen skills. Some of which include: word or picture sorts (based on patterns, sounds, meaning, categories, etc.) from Patricia Cunningham’s Making Big Words & Making Words books, reviewing common errors on formal assessments or in writing journals, group reading, word study games, and reviewing word banks. Conference time (or SSR time) will occasionally be spent performing formal assessments such as running records, spelling inventories, DIBELS exams, or full observation surveys of my children; this is especially true during the beginning of the year when I need to determine each student’s needs and their appropriate groups. These assessments will be scored, progress will be graphed using MS Excel or 5
PowerPoint, and paperwork will be filed within each child’s portfolio, which will be available to parents during conferences. These student portfolios will also include writing samples, significant projects completed during the year, formal test results, documented behavior issues during the year, and notes that I have written about the student. Following lunch and recess time, the class will engage in interactive or shared writing activities. During this 15 minute block students will assemble at the front of the room and I will model proper writing and editing techniques on the board or scribe words that students say aloud. In addition, students may also participate in the writing process in front of the class or on their individual whiteboards. This whole-class writing time will also be used for activities such as writing our monthly newsletter, building story maps, developing questions for student-led interviews, discussing and writing about other subjects covered the previous day (i.e. science experiments), writing and editing a classroom story or poem, designing web charts, brainstorming ideas for writing, reviewing and practicing the word wall words, reviewing spelling and punctuation rules, or on mini-lessons to develop skills such as writing with voice, developing themes, and using descriptive words within writing. After the mini-lesson and shared writing is complete, students will participate in 25 minutes of writer’s workshop or independent writing time at their own desks. At the beginning of the year I will model the type of writing I expect from the children. Each student will be given a journal in which they will record their daily writing. Writing topics will often be chosen based on student interest. On the side of each student’s desk will hang a small clipboard where the student can write down a future writing topic. At the back of these journals I will insert a personal word wall consisting of words the students may struggle with or need to focus on in their writing. Journals will be collected each week based on their color grouping and I will review and 6
provide feedback in each folder nightly. Within this feedback I will also respond to any questions asked by the student or even ask questions of the child to be responded to before the journal is collected next time. While students continue to write in their journals, I will move around the room and have meetings with specific individuals to discuss writing samples, solidify writing strategies, brainstorm ideas, discuss topics, or assist with spelling questions (paying special attention to words misspelled from our word wall). Before the writing block has ended, I will leave enough time for volunteers to read their writing samples to the class. During this time I am emphasizing the week’s lessons, reinforcing proper writing techniques, and celebrating each child’s work. In addition to time blocked specifically for reading, writing, and spelling, literacy will continue to be emphasized within each additional subject block throughout the day. I hope to instill my passion for reading and writing in each of my students through fun exercises, proper modeling, and collaboration among all class and school members. This balanced and comprehensive approach to literacy should provide my 2nd grade class with the necessary tools to be successful throughout the school year as well as in future grades.
References Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2008). Words Their Way. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Cunningham, P. & Hall, D. (2001). Making Big Words: Multilevel, Hands-On Spelling and Phonics Activities. New York: Good Apple. Routman, R. (2000). Conversations: Strategies for Teaching, Learning, and Evaluating. New Hampshire: Heinemann.
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